Times Cryptic No 27996 – Saturday, 5 June 2021. Can Scrabble champions jet through crosswords?

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My major blockage with this one was the Brazilian jet. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. How did you all get on?

[Read more …]Notes for newcomers: The Times offers prizes for Saturday Cryptic Crosswords. This blog is posted a week later, after the competition closes. So, please don’t comment here on the current Saturday Cryptic.

Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Deletions are struck through.

Across
1 Those employing ramp turn left on returning aboard (9)
SWINDLERS – WIND=turn + L=left + ER=re(=on) ‘returning’. Put all of that in SS, or in other words ‘on board ship’.
9 Arriviste from north in disorderly rave-up (7)
PARVENU – N + RAVE UP ‘disorderly’.
10 Employer drained after working away for purchase (2,5)
ON OFFER – ON=working, OFF=away, EmployeR drained’.
11 Pulp novel changing hands (5)
FLESH – FRESH, changing R to L.
12 Doctor bitten by crow sick at heart and windy (9)
BOMBASTIC – MB=doctor inside BOAST=crow, then sICk ‘at heart’.
13 Seafood from Bali cooked in cabin (7)
HALIBUT – BALI ‘cooked’ in HUT.
15 A little garlic in cold relish (5)
CLOVE – C=cold, LOVE=relish.
17 Fly westward, say, with poor illumination (5)
MIDGE – EG=say, DIM=poor illumination, all ‘westward’.
18 Steal very small amount (5)
PINCH – double definition.
19 Satisfactory cuts for every card game (5)
POKER – OK ‘cuts’ PER.
20 Subordinate to remain without water, close to death (7)
BENEATH – BE=remain + NEAT=without water (whisky, perhaps) + H=‘close’ to deatH.
23 Hang about like security service intercepting notes (9)
ASSOCIATE – AS=like, CIA=security service; add in a SO and a TE as required.
25 Draw involving clubs proceeds without honour? (5)
LUCRE – LURE ‘involving’ C=clubs.
27 Plot to trap seal thwarted (7)
BLOCKED – BED ‘trapping’ LOCK.
28 Ferocious marine syndicate (7)
SEARING – SEA=marine, RING=syndicate.
29 Money initially denied to servicemen restored from then on (4,5)
EVER SINCE – SERVICEmEN minus its ‘M’, ‘restored’ as an anagram.

Down
1 Block times for visit (4,2)
STOP BY – STOP=block, BY=times.
2 Press, first alternative to rack? (4,6)
IRON MAIDEN – IRON=press, MAIDEN=first. Maiden appearance, for example.
3 Provocation of French intended (8)
DEFIANCE – DE=of in French, FIANCÉ=intended (husband).
4 Bird turned up covered in detergent (5)
EGRET – backwards hidden answer.
5 Roadside police may carry out this arrest after jam (4,5)
SPOT CHECK – SPOT=jam, CHECK=arrest.
6 Drawing energy released by power source can be tricky (6)
ARTFUL – ART=drawing, possibly + FUeL ‘releasing’ E.
7 Announcement of grain yield (4)
CEDE – sounds like SEED.
8 Bird to emerge from shell, head first (8)
NUTHATCH – NUT=head + HATCH=emerge from shell.
14 Mad family a potential cause of embarrassment (6,4)
BANANA SKIN – BANANAS=mad, KIN.
16 Hospital expert tipped to run leaderless institution (9)
ORPHANAGE – H=hospital + PRO=expert, all ‘tipped up’. Then, mANAGE=run is ‘leaderless’.
17 One’s invested in phone for rally (8)
MOBILISE – 1’S in MOBILE.
18 Valuable source I abandoned under pressure (8)
PRECIOUS – SOURCE I is ‘abandoned’, after P=pressure.
21 A male, or sometimes a female, team getting in beers (6)
ALEXIS – XI=team in ALES.
22 Buyer‘s limit included in letter (6)
VENDEE – END=limit, in VEE. Not a common word, but since a VENDOR sells, obviously a VENDEE buys. Nothing to do with the French department, in the Pays de la Loire.
24 Jet from Brazil unloaded in small enclosure (5)
SABLE – BL=Brazil ‘unloaded’. S.A.E.=self-addressed envelope, or in other words a small enclosure. Nothing to do with the Sabre jet fighters of the 1950s then, even though the country code for Brazilian cars is BR! But, the thought of the jet did give me the S.A.E.
26 Scrabble champion’s prime rule (4)
CLAW – C=champion’s ‘prime’ + LAW=rule.

22 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27996 – Saturday, 5 June 2021. Can Scrabble champions jet through crosswords?”

  1. I biffed ORPHANAGE, twigged post-submission. LOI VENDEE, where I think I had to trawl the alphabet. SABLE from the BL. There were some nice surfaces among the clues, like 26d or 11ac.
  2. finish my crossword! Which she did as my LOI was 21dn ALEXIS

    POI 25ac LUCRE

    FOI 18ac PINCH

    COD 29ac EVER SINCE

    WOD 12ac HALIBUT – great fish

    Time just over the hour.

    1. That’s Alexa. She did however turn up in the Jumbo being blogged today (#1500 52ac).
  4. 32 minutes on this excellent puzzle. There were lots of lovely clues, and I’ll mention BANANA SKIN and NUTHATCH along with my COD ON OFFER. Thank you B and setter.
  5. I don’t remember finding this particularly easy and my time of 44 minutes might confirm that, however the very neat hand-writing and total absence of notes in the margins suggest it must have been pretty straightforward.
  6. “So, please don’t comment here on the current Saturday Cryptic.” .. as our esteemed blogger says, above.

    I thought 27996 was quite a straightforward one but with some very nice clues .. I liked 21dn and 10ac expecially.

    Why is lucre always filthy?

    1. Titus 1:11 See – American Standard Version: Douay-Rheims Bible; English Revised Version
      1. Yes.. originally in the Tyndale version, apparently. Which no doubt explains its popularity, though the usage is earlier still.
  7. A fun puzzle which kept me busy for 36:56. I liked ORPHANAGE, IRON MAIDEN and NUTHATCH. Managed to parse SABLE eventually. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  8. ….which I finished fairly quickly, but then I spent almost as long again in re-reading the clues and appreciating the superb surfaces. I only parsed ASSOCIATE afterwards. I had eight candidates for COD, and must award honourable mentions to FLESH, BENEATH, DEFIANCE, and CLAW.

    FOI PARVENU
    LOI ARTFUL
    COD NUTHATCH
    TIME 9:25

  9. Regarding SABLE, unfortunately I know there is a “jet from Brazil”. The company, Embraer makes them. That confused my thinking.
    I really do wish people (horryd and vinyl1 in this case) wouldn’t offer ANY comment on the current puzzle. I find it very annoying and it has put me off attempting it.
    1. Because I completely agree with you Martin, I am prevented from making any comment myself .. but I do recommend you have a go at it 😉
  11. I did not find this at all easy, but it was rewarding.
    I solved the top half first apart from having to return to SWINDLERS. FOI DEFIANCE.
    I spent a couple of hours in the evening on the bottom half while watching golf from the US; all the lulls and advert breaks give opportunities. VENDEE and EVER SINCE required a lot of thought. LOI was CLAW.
    COD to HALIBUT but lots of candidates.
    David
  12. All done in 33 minutes. I liked the misdirection of the ‘Jet from Brazil’ (I remember the Sabre) and it was good to see our avian friend the NUTHATCH making another appearance. I enjoyed working out the parsing of SWINDLERS and ORPHANAGE.

    IRON MAIDEN was a good clue, but ever since I saw it “at work” (or sort of) in an episode of “Midsomer Murders” the very mention of the name gives me the creeps.

  13. In my book (Titus) LUCRE is profit and not money per se and has strong anti-semitic overtones – days of The Temple?

    “The development of credit began in northern Italy where Fibonacci introduced decimalisation and calculations of interest. The first bankers sat on their banci negotiating with ship-owners. The bankers were mainly Jewish because usury was still outlawed by the church – hence the plot of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.” Niall Ferguson. My COD

    Time 10:17

    1. You quoted the words, actually, of one Michael Casey (there must be hundreds, ha) in the Irish Times, whose review of Ferguson’s book does have “filthy lucre” in the title.
      https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/low-down-on-filthy-lucre-from-cowrie-shells-to-subprime-1.899484

      In the verse in Titus, Paul inveighs against those “teaching things which they ought not, because of filthy lucre.” This doesn’t seem to relate in any direct way to usury.

  14. 59 minutes, so I found this hard but very enjoyable. I did finally manage to parse ORPHANAGE, but not SABLE (fortunately, I did not know anything about the jet planes which put other people off track). LOI was VENDEE after an alphabet trawl.
  15. Completed in, I think, around an hour – and if memory serves my LOI was ON OFFER which, while dead simple, evaded me for too long. A satisfyingly challenging but not undoable puzzle. Thanks to setter and blogger.

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